The Ford Taurus has been the No. 1 selling vehicle in the market for the last two years. So what does Ford do for an encore?
“Anything less than being at the top is second best so we’re going to try to do it again,” said Ford Chairman Alex Trotman.
But having the top-selling nameplate isn’t all Trotman is concerned about.
“We also want to improve our profit margins and reduce our incentives, too,” he said.
While Ford wants out of costly incentives, Chrysler has started to offer them on its extended-length mini-vans to take the edge off the fact Ford is bringing out a new front-wheel-drive extended-length Ford Windstar mini-van in March.
You’d think the Chrysler action would prompt Ford to respond.
“Chrysler offering incentives must mean they’re worried,” Trotman said. “Incentives may cost them money but it’s not going to cost us anything. We didn’t have to spend any money to sell Explorer when the others had incentives on their Explorer-type (sport-utility) vehicles.”
Trotman feels the fact Windstar will be all-new while the Chrysler vans are approaching the end of their life cycle before new models come out in January is prompting the Chrysler incentives.
Aside from Chrysler, Ford has other competition to worry about, such as Toyota coming out with a new Avalon full-size car to compete with the Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis.
In recent years, the Japanese have gone after two U.S. strongholds, luxury cars and pickup trucks. Will Avalon, the first Japanese family-size sedan to be built in the U.S., be as successful as the Lexus luxury sedan or flop like the Toyota T100 pickup?
“I suspect Avalon will be closer to the Lexus than the T100,” Trotman said. “It will be more competition for us. When you look at Toyota’s record, not too many vehicles haven’t done well. Personally I think the T100 with only a V-6 in that size of truck was a tall order to expect it to be a high-volume truck.”
Does Trotman see any progress in the U.S. trying to reduce the trade deficit with Japan?
“The only change in the trade imbalance with Japan is that it’s increasing,” he said.
Looking ahead, the Ford chairman is optimistic, yet cautious.
“The U.S. economy and the U.S. auto industry are getting stronger and the mess they were in is over,” he said. But before you break out the champagne, Trotman also noted that one of the ailments facing the industry still is excess production capacity, which totaled 10.5 million units last year.
“There’s too many vehicles chasing too few customers,” he said. “You’ll see some companies disappear, you’ll see some nameplates disappear as competition gets stronger and overcapacity continues.”
Ford is doing some chasing of its own. While Chevy will bring out a new four-door version of the full-size Blazer and name it Tahoe for 1995, Ford won’t respond with a four-door version of its full-size Bronco sport-utility until the 1997 model year. In 1999 Ford will bring out a rival to the Chevy Suburban, which is being developed under the UN103 Crew Wagon designation.
Riding high: A year ago Olds general manager and self-proclaimed honest-to-goodness cowboy John Rock was said to have one boot in the grave amid rumors the GM division’s days were numbered.
Reports that Olds’ wake was imminent prompted Rock to say he was one “ticked off” cowboy (though if memory serves he used another adjective for ticked).
The division has weathered the death notices and sales are heading back up. Rock says he’s now a happy cowboy.
“I feel like Lazarus having risen from the dead,” he said.
So what brought people back into Olds showrooms. Skillful planning? Innovative technology? Marketing ingenuity?
“Actually, it was lots of luck,” Rock said, “but then I’ve always said luck beats brains any day of the week. Our special edition $16,995 cars helped, but then so did all the problems the Japanese had because their prices went up from the value of the yen against the dollar. Whatever the reason, there is a divine being. He wears boots-and His father drives an Olds.”
So why, Rock was asked, did Olds unveil its 1996 Bravada sporty-utility vehicle at the auto show so far ahead of time?
“Because I still have to convince people we’re in business so I’ve been forced to violate all common sense rules,” he said of taking the wraps off two years early.
Bravada was going to be dropped after the 1994 model run and return in 1996 but Rock got GM’s permission to build Bravada through September and is working on getting approval to keep building it through June 1995, which means there would be no hiatus between the old and the new Bravada in showrooms.
“I’m afraid of an out-of-sight, out-of-mind problem with Bravada and don’t want a dry spot on the showroom floor,” he said.
Looking ahead, Rock said Olds will bring out a restyled Silhouette mini-van in 1996, a new Cutlass (with a high-performance, dual overhead cam 24-valve V-6) in 1997 bearing similar styling to the ’95 Aurora (out in May), a replacement for the 88 based on a shortened version of Aurora in the spring of 1997 as a 1998 and a new compact Achieva in 1998.
The Olds 98 was to be dropped once Aurora gained a foothold in the market but now Olds folks say it will stay in the lineup as long as sales remain respectable levels-taken to mean at least 15,000 annually.
By the way, for the 1994 model year (Oct. 1-Jan. 31), Olds sales are up 20 percent. Among individual nameplates, Achieva is up 20 percent, Ciera 18 percent, Supreme 34 percent, 88 up 16 percent, 98 up 24 percent, Silhouette up 12 percent and Bravada up 6 percent.
Giving it room: We’ve only gotten to sit in the 1995 Buick Riviera, but even that was a pleasant experience. Once you fight your way past the front seat shoulder belt harness blocking entry to the rear seat you’ll find a most spacious compartment. Excellent leg, head and arm room thanks to the fact the Riv’s dimensions will grow on the ’95 model due in May.
Buick boasts you’ll be able to get four sets of golf clubs in the trunk, and it would be hard to dispute that.
Riv will be powered by a choice of 3.8-liter V-6 engines, one with supercharging (225 horsepower), one without (205 h.p.). Dual air bags and anti-lock brakes are standard but traction control is an option to keep the price ($27,632 to $32,000) down. The 16-inch wheels are a nice touch that should help ride and handling.
Buick general manager Ed Mertz said only one suspension system will be offered initially but a sports suspension option is under consideration for the near future. No convertible is planned, but, Mertz said, “If we were to add a convertible to our lineup, it would be on this car.”
The Lexus SC coupes seem logical targets for the new Riv, along with the Lincoln Mark VIII, of course. But Mertz insists Buick is targeting potential buyers, not potential rivals.
“We’re not going after `a’ competitor because there are so many of them that if you concentrate on one, another will come around your flank.”
Mertz also said that unlike Cadillac buyers who won’t be totally happy until that division offers a 500 gazillion cubic inch, 1 million-h.p. V-8, Buick owners didn’t ask for anything more than a V-6 in the Riv.
“Our buyers don’t talk cylinders or valves, they simply want power to move from light, to pass and to merge so the Riv was engineered to deliver high torque at the low speed range,” he said.
One really neat feature is the holder built into the roof for a power garage door opener. Rather than just hiding the opener, the cover is designed so that when you press the lid it activates the opener so you don’t have to remove it from the holder.
Another novel feature finds all push-button controls for interior/exterior lights with a white ring around that button. You need only look for the white ring and if you don’t spot it you know the lights were left on.
